With the absences of Ben Gordon (left ankle sprain), Richard Hamilton (right ankle sprain) and Tayshaun Prince (small ruptured disc-lower back), the Detroit Pistons have been forced to make some changes in their lineup.

When they squared off against the Atlanta Hawks yesterday at the Palace of Auburn Hills, coach John Kuester decided to place veteran point guard Chucky Atkins in a starting role for the depleted team.

Prior to his first start of this season, I caught up with Atkins as he signed a few autographs for fans to reflect on when he competed in the Pro-Am league in Flint during his first Pistons tenure.

I remember when you came down to the Pro-Am in Flint when I was a kid man ...

Yeah bro!

Do you still do stuff like that in the summer time?

I ball out as much as I can. Every chance that I get, that’s what I do.

I remember one time you walked in the gym late and turned the gym out. You were pulling three’s from half court.

You know what? I like to go places where people love basketball and display my God-given ability. I mean, a lot of times the people in Flint don’t get to come down here and watch us play in person so obviously Mateen (Cleaves) was a teammate of mine at the time and a very good friend and still is to this day and he invited me to come down and once I came down there and seen how the people enjoyed the game and seen how packed the gym is I made it a thing to try to come down there as much as I possibly can because I loved it.

Who was your toughest competition there?

I mean everybody was tough. The Torbert boys was tough and I can’t think of my other boy's name, he got game. He should’ve actually been in the pros.

You talking about Cory Hightower?

Cory Hightower! Yeah … you understand. Them boys got it in, they played hard basketball. So I think it’s a lot of talent down there in Flint, I think it’s just about somebody instilling stuff in them you know what I mean?